<p>“The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US,” the news agency said in a report of a joint newspaper editorial on the country’s foreign policy stance.<br /><br />It added: “It is the consistent stand of the DPRK to establish a lasting peace system on the Korean peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations.”<br />United States President Barack Obama wrote a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-II this month to try to persuade Pyongyang to return to nuclear disarmament talks.<br /><br />International ostracism<br />North Korea a year ago stepped away from a deal with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States to end its nuclear programme in exchange for massive aid and an end to its international ostracism.<br />North Korea has exploded nuclear devices but is yet to show it has a working nuclear bomb. <br />Experts doubt North Korea has the ability to miniaturise an atomic weapon to place on a missile, but the country has been trying to develop such a warhead.</p>
<p>“The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US,” the news agency said in a report of a joint newspaper editorial on the country’s foreign policy stance.<br /><br />It added: “It is the consistent stand of the DPRK to establish a lasting peace system on the Korean peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations.”<br />United States President Barack Obama wrote a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-II this month to try to persuade Pyongyang to return to nuclear disarmament talks.<br /><br />International ostracism<br />North Korea a year ago stepped away from a deal with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States to end its nuclear programme in exchange for massive aid and an end to its international ostracism.<br />North Korea has exploded nuclear devices but is yet to show it has a working nuclear bomb. <br />Experts doubt North Korea has the ability to miniaturise an atomic weapon to place on a missile, but the country has been trying to develop such a warhead.</p>
